This widely distributed fall mushroom, sometimes called the "brick cap," can be found growing in tight clusters on hardwood stumps and logs. It is fairly easily recognized by its habitat, its brick-red cap with a paler cap margin, its purple-gray gills, and the way the stem often bruises and stains yellow. If you can catch Hypholoma sublateritium when it's still very young, you can see its partial veil, which mycologists call "submembranous," looking like a cross between a cortina and a more substantial veil.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing in clusters on decaying hardwood logs and stumps; fall; widely distributed in North America but more common east of the Rocky Mountains. The illustrated and described collections are from Michigan, Illinois, and Québec.

Gills: Attached to the stem; close or crowded; when young covered by a whitish, cortina-like veil; whitish when very young, but soon pale gray to gray, becoming purple-gray to dark purple brown with maturity; short-gills frequent.

Stem: 4-12 cm long; 1-2 cm thick; more or less equal, or twisted and tapering to base due to the clustered growth pattern; bald, or finely hairy near the apex; often featuring an ephemeral or persistent ring zone near the top; yellowish to whitish above, brown to reddish below; sometimes bruising and staining yellow.